Local News

INDEPENDENCE — The Grayson County Career and Technical Education (CATE) Center’s automotive technology program, which was previously placed under warning by the Virginia Department of Education, has now received full certification.

Angie Lawson, principal of the CATE Center, announced the program’s certification to the Grayson County School Board during their monthly meeting on Nov. 13.

“As you are aware, we were previously under warning; but the department of education gave us extra time to work on it,” Lawson said.

HILLSVILLE – Pipers Gap Supervisor Tom Littrell brought up what he feels is a serious problem concerning Carroll County finances at the Nov. 14 board of supervisors meeting.

Littrell said he voted in October to approve a revenue anticipation note after Carroll Treasurer Bonita Williams forecast that the cash flow would not be sufficient to meet the county’s financial obligations in the near future.

One Christmas, Alyssa Kenny of Galax made sure that her friend’s kids wouldn’t go without presents.

The friend “woke up one morning and Ally had told her to go outside and look in front of her door and she had mounds of toys everywhere for her kids,” said friend Bethany Ratliff, remembering the young woman’s generosity. Kenny’s mom “made stockings and Ally stuffed them with things for the kids.”

The Galax Volunteer Fire Department is once again heading up an annual community project that helps those less fortunate.

The department coordinates the Community Christmas Food Fund effort, but donations come from the public to fill “blessing boxes” of food. Volunteers also pack and deliver the hundreds of boxes before Christmas.

The blessing boxes consist of two large boxes of staple foods that will help 550 recipients through a financially difficult time of year.

HILLSVILLE – The Carroll Wellness Center in now offering an expanded program of support for sufferers of diabetes and other chronic diseases.

CWC has received a $65,471 grant from the Twin County Community Foundation, a local funding agency that awards grants to local non-profits and governments for the purpose of promoting the health, education and welfare of the citizens of Grayson and Carroll counties and the city of Galax.

INDEPENDENCE — The court date to set a trial for Tanisha Ann Lineberry, charged in the April 30 death of her young son, has been moved pending the results of a mental health evaluation.

According to court records, a trial date for Lineberry will be set on Jan. 26, 2018.

Lineberry was appointed legal counsel at a hearing in Grayson County Circuit Court on Aug. 17. She is charged with involuntary manslaughter and abuse of a child resulting in serious injury. Attorney J. Tompkins will represent Lineberry, according to the circuit court office.

A Galax Volunteer Fire Department member was injured while on a call last week.

Galax firefighters responded to a house fire at 130 Brickyard Road in the city on Nov. 16 at 3:31 p.m., according to a report. When they arrived, firefighters found the single-story structure fully involved, with fire through the roof.

One firefighter suffered a knee injury and was transported to Twin County Regional Hospital, where he was treated and released.

HILLSVILLE – The Carroll County Board of Supervisors and the Carroll County School Board put their heads together to come up with a solution for two urgent school requests during a joint meeting Nov. 20.

At the meeting, the county authorized the school board to buy five school buses at a discounted price that was soon to expire, and agreed to seek funding for repairing part of the roof at Carroll County High School.